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Monday, February 27, 2017

THE PURPOSE OF SINGLENESS

1. As we all know, God does nothing
without a purpose (end result) in mind Eccl. 3:1

To be single means to be whole,
unique, separate, have something to offer and complete ALL BY YOURSELF!

So singleness is only a PHASE.

The truth is this: Every phase has a
duration, plus its glory and it's beauty. Every phase!

In Phil. 4: 11&12 Paul says
"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever
state I am, therewith to be content."

You need to embrace this perspective
of being happy and content in your state of singleness while working towards
the next phase which is married life.

Though marriage is good and
God-ordained, don't let your desire for it become an obsession and an all-
consuming preoccupation to the extent that you will do ANYTHING just in order
to get married!

Singleness is only a phase.

Enjoy it while it lasts because it
has its own benefits and blessings that will impact upon your married life
tomorrow.

So, the number one purpose of
singleness is TO PLEASE AND SERVE GOD.

Single days are serving days!

Serving God gives Him pleasure (Rev.
4:11) and when He is pleased with you, you will have His best!

Service is a good training ground for
being a good Christian (it helps you to be selfless, humbles you, breaks you
etc).

And guess what? ALL YOU NEED TO BE A
GOOD SPOUSE IS ALL YOU NEED TO BE A GOOD CHRISTIAN!

Everybody is attracted to a person
who possesses a servant’s attitude 1 Sam 25.

So approach marriage with the
attitude of looking for whom to serve and bless.

Think contribution!!!

Also look out for someone who
possesses the same mentality; "I AM LOADED; I AM ANOINTED; WHOM CAN I
SERVE?"

So if I have a servant's heart and I
want to serve you AND you also have a servant's heart and you want to serve me,
then we are on our way to a great marriage relationship!.

2. STRENGTH-GATHERING. Eccl.12:1

The days of your youth/singleness are
days of maximum strength and unfettered exploits!

Many outstanding Bible characters did
exploits for God in their youthful and single days e.g. Joseph, David, Mary,
Shadrach and friends, Daniel etc

See friends, married life is hard
work and involves a lot of GIVING.

So before you get there, this is the
best time to build a reservoir of strength.

- *Spiritually*develop stamina and
staying power by drawing closer to God in your daily walk with Him. Study the
word of God, pray a lot, fast on your own, and devour materials that will
nourish your spirit.

- Mentally read and ingest materials
that help you build capacity and be knowledgeable in relevant fields.

Don't spend most of your free time
watching, reading and doing things that will not add value to you.

Broaden your horizon of knowledge so
you can be an asset tomorrow.

- Emotionally grow up and mature in
the way you react to and handle issues that come your way especially negative
issues. Learn to be more patient and tolerant of others and their views.

Nothing in life ever becomes greater
than the preparation that precedes it. 2 Chr. 27:6

No doubt you have very high
expectations for your marriage tomorrow. But in order to realize that dream you
must match your expectations with corresponding preparation, if not you are
heading for trouble.

Many singles who are in search of
Marriage partners do not even understand what marriage is, what their functions
are or even how to relate with a husband/wife after the wedding!

Are you preparing for the answer to
your prayer?

Have you built the capacity to be
able to accommodate the answer to your prayer?

This is the time to get ready for the
great life that you envision.

Learn about the peculiarities of the
opposite sex that are TOTALLY different from yours.

Learn and understand your own
temperament and then learn about the other temperament combinations: their
strengths and weaknesses and how to relate with a spouse who possesses those
kinds of temperaments.

Learn about how to relate with
inlaws.

Learn how to handle and resolve
conflicts and differences that will SURELY arise.

READ.

ASK QUESTIONS.

STUDY.

MAKE ENQUIRIES.

DON'T ASSUME THAT YOU KNOW.

Arm yourself with requisite
information that will help you make the most of married life in peace, despite
the challenges that may arise on the journey.

Don't get married as a clueless,
ignorant person!

No matter how much you love each
other, marriage will not work out automatically!

Much more importantly too, prepare by
consciously cultivating GODLY CHARACTER which is what makes marriage work!

Now is the time to cultivate godly
virtues like discipline, honesty, humility, patience, kindness, hard work,
selflessness, meekness etc.

No matter how beautiful, handsome or
'sexy' you are, without godly character in place your marriage will be
miserable and will not last.

This is the time to begin to prepare
for that journey of a lifetime.

And make sure that you get married to
someone who has also done a handsome share of preparing as well. Oh, if only half the preparation that
goes into the traditional/church
wedding/reception/honeymoon/photoshoots/shopping/make-up sessions 💍🍴🍽🍸🍷🍾🎹🎉🎊🎀🎈🎈💅🏻👄....went into preparing for the REAL
thing ( the life after) marriages would be happier today.

Think of it: there's no vocation or
trade or profession that you want to enter into that does not place a demand of
years of tutelage and apprenticeship on you! Years of learning the ropes as
well as intricacies of the trade.